Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Justice
The smell of something sweet filled the air. Something unlike what I thought could ever exist. It’s sweet like honeysuckles.
“You’re awake.”
How the hell did Zaid know I was awake?
I snarl at him and shift from coyote back to my human self.
“Corbin sent some clothes for you,” Zaid remarks. “Zavier’s out front. Stuck around after the surgery.” The way the words left his lips were filled with anger. “Get dressed. Take it easy the next day or so to give your bones time to finish healing up. We had to go in rebreak and set them.”
Once he finishes, he stalks out.
What the fuck was that?
Shaking my head, I hop off the gurney and get dressed.
I was more than ready to get out of there.
I wanted to get back out there and find the rogue I’d been tracking before I’d been hit.
I guess I’d been lucky when the person driving the truck that hit me brought me to Zaid’s clinic rather than leaving me there to die.
The sweet smell of honeysuckles is nearly overwhelming my senses as I pull on both my boots. I could hear Zaid and Zavier’s muffled argument, though I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Something must have happened while I was out.
Flashes of . . . fuck, it had to be a dream. There’s no way I met her last night.
Though the thought goes through my head, I immediately know it’s a lie.
My mate. I’d met my mate. Something had woken me, but I’d not been able to shift. She smelled of . . . fuck me . . . honeysuckles.
The beast inside me growls, wanting to go in search of her.
There’s no way I was going to do that. I needed to get back to the clubhouse, talk to my brothers, and fill them in on the rogue.
With all the bullshit the club’s got going on, the last thing we need is to have to deal with rogues on top of it all.
Pulling my cut on, I slip my wallet and shit in my pockets and head for the doors. It’s all I can do to ignore the smell of my mate. The scent of her is intoxicating, but I also notice something else about her scent. She’s scared, vulnerable.
Shaking the thought away, I find Zavier standing off with Zaid.
“You need to get rid of her,” Zavier sneers.
“We’re done with this conversation.” Zaid looks to me and nods. “Remember, take it easy until you completely heal.”
“Will do, Doc.” I nod and look to Zavier. “Let’s go.”
Zavier glares at his brother once more before heading for the exit. I follow behind him, ready to get the hell out of here. I need to give my brothers a rundown of what happened, then I need to get back out there and find the sorry ass rogue. Once I do, I’ll make the bastard pay for me getting hit.
“Wanna talk about?” Zavier grumbles while driving his truck. I’d have preferred to be on my bike, same as he probably would, but I wasn’t a hundred percent yet. I knew I still needed more healing.
“We’ll talk about it in church.” I didn’t want to have to retell what happened more than I had to. Still, I wouldn’t mind knowing what the hell was up with him and Zaid. “Why were you and Zaid looking ready to shift and fuck each other up?”
“Because he’s got a blood witch working for him,” Zavier says, disgust in his voice.
The very mention of a blood witch has my body tensing. “The fuck is he thinking?”
“I don’t know. Hell, he’s claimed the girl is family. No fuckin’ way am I going to let that happen.”
“Don’t blame you.”
And I didn’t.
Zavier glances at me, a brow cocked. “You remember anything from the night before? You remember meeting your mate?”
“Not really. It’s a haze. And I don’t have a mate. Gotta acknowledge that fact for it to be a mating,” I tell him, though my beast claws at my insides, not liking my answer. I don’t know what’s up with him when it comes to a mate I sure as fuck don’t need.
“So, you don’t remember the fact that your mate is the blood witch?”
“The fuck you say?” That can’t be right. I would have sensed that about my mate. Wouldn’t I?
“The woman who works for my brother and sister-in-law, your mate, she’s a blood witch. Last night, when she screamed, it woke you from being heavily sedated, and you came in there.” Zavier gives me a complete rundown of what happened, and as he does, my stomach tightens.
The beast inside me disagrees with me. He wants our mate and refuses to believe she’s a blood witch.
Once he finishes, we spend the rest of the ride back to the clubhouse in silence. He leaves me to my thoughts. I need to think about this. To find a way for my beast and me to come to terms with the fact that I won’t . . . I refuse to accept a mate. Especially one that’s a blood witch.
They’re the enemy. I won’t do it.
Blood witches are all about power. About chaos. About destroying the lives around them. They don’t love. They don’t have room for anything but darkness in them.
By the time we reach the clubhouse, my head is hurting. I want nothing more than to deny it all, but the coyote inside me is refusing to allow me to do so.
Zavier parks his truck off to the side. Both of us get out at the same time and head for the front doors. I glance back to see the prospects working to close the gates.
I walk a little behind Zavier, taking it slow. I could feel that my body was still healing and needed more time. The ache was still twinging through my body.
The moment I step through the door, I immediately wish I hadn’t. This is because Saddle and Big Red decided to throw themselves at me.
“We missed you last night,” Saddle says, stroking a finger along my jawline.
“Let us make you feel better,” Big Red coos, batting her lashes.
I’ve had the two of them more than the others. I never took one of them by themselves, and they didn’t have a problem with it. They enjoyed what I did to them.
Usually, I’d take them up on the offer, but I couldn’t. The thought had my skin crawling, and I knew it was my beast.
“Maybe later,” I tell them, brushing them both away from me.
“We’ll be ready for you,” Saddle murmurs, her voice taking on that seduction tone before she and Big Red turn to walk away. Both of them swaying their hips.
I didn’t give them a second look as I looked for Corbin. I find him instantly standing and handing Asher to Karsyn.
Corbin meets my gaze and shouts, “Church.”
I nod and head for the room we all gather in.
It was time to tell them what the hell happened. Then I was gonna have to figure out what the fuck to do about this mate situation.
The door closes behind Tobias and Jett. The two of them were talking about Jett needing to change his name or at least needing a road name now with Aziz’s mate being around the clubhouse because of her friend being here.
I thought it was funny mostly, but I could see his need not to have to worry about her being here and him answering to her name being called.
“Just have them call you ‘Lion’,” Tobias snorts.
“Shut the fuck up,” Jett grunts, shoving at Tobias’s shoulder.
“I’m just saying.” Tobias laughs and throws himself into his chair.
“How about we focus on what we’re doing in here and get to that shit later,” Corbin states. Guess he’s not in the mood to fuck around.
The room goes silent, everyone’s eyes on me.
Sighing, I give them a rundown on what happened and how I was chasing after the rogue. “The scent of it was familiar. My gut tells me it’s someone from my past. Following its scent, I nearly caught up to it when I was hit by the car.”
“You think your family is in town?” Dane asks.
“My gut is saying at least one of them, but from what I remember, they don’t ever travel alone,” I tell them and lean back in my chair, letting out a heavy breath.
“We’ll deal with them if they show again. They do, don’t go after them alone,” Corbin orders, leaning forward, elbows bracing on the edge of the table. “Now, we need to talk about what else happened last night. First, though, you need to know what I’ve learned from Karsyn.”
“Don’t tell me your mate knows this bitch?” Zavier snarls.
His reaction has the beast inside me nearly surging forward.
“No, she doesn’t know Annahi,” Corbin answers, shooting him a glare. “You all know Karsyn’s history. She was held captive by Death. Wanted to use her for her abilities.”
“So, what, this is another captive?”
I don’t know what Zavier’s problem is with this situation of his brother and the blood witch that works for him, but it’s grating on my nerves. Not mine, more or less, the beast’s inside me. He’s ready to rip through me and tear into him.
“Not exactly. Karsyn knew the name because she’d heard Death speaking to a High Priestess on more than one occasion about a girl named Annahi. I’ve seen the memory in my mate.”
Karsyn and Corbin’s connection is stronger than I’ve ever seen a mate’s bond be. Not even Dane’s or Tucker’s connections to their mates are as strong. Though they have their own unique connections.
“What happened in the memory?” Dane asks. The fact he is Karsyn’s brother, he always is the first to ask when it came to her. He hadn’t had the chance to know her until they found out about her.
“They spoke of twin telepaths that were born but were only able to get their hands on one of them. Annahi. She’s half of what they need. The memory showed them talking about using the twins as a weapon. Only the other disappeared.”
“So, this bitch is part of a weapon they intend to use.” Zavier growls, slamming his fist down. “Great, just more reason for her to not exist.”
“Enough,” I snarl, baring my teeth at him.
All eyes come back to me.
Fuck.
“I might not want a damn mate, but . . .”
“You can’t control your coyote’s need to protect her,” Corbin finishes for me.
“Yeah.” I nod, agreeing with him.
“She’s in my head and I don’t even remember what she looks like,” I tell them. “Just the scent of her.”
“Gotta admit she was pretty,” Coby remarks from his spot next to me.
“Beauty doesn’t make a woman pretty,” Zavier grumbles. “The scent of her alone was a turn off.”
“If you think about it, she was scared out of her mind being around all of us,” Tucker grunts, shakes his head, and rocks back in his chair. “Maybe it was the fear in her that triggered the scent of blood witches. After thinking on it all mornin’, there was something else in her scent.”
“Way Karsyn explained it to me, her mind went into overload. She couldn’t handle all the voices in her head. Syn doesn’t think Annahi has control of her gift.”
“Great, so she’s not just a weapon, but doesn’t know how to control herself.”
“Zavier,” I call warningly.
I don’t know what the fuck is going on. I was gonna have to figure it out. From what Corbin says, there’s more to the story about this woman, but regardless, she was raised by a blood witch. It didn’t matter if it was in her blood or not. She was still not someone I could take as a mate.
At the same time, we couldn’t let her be used against us.
We were gonna have to bring her in for her safety and ours.